The Gray Garden: School Edition
by gwendolyn21
Summary: This is the school edition of The Gray Garden. Sit back, grab a bag of popcorn or whatever food you have, keep calm and read the story. There will be shipping, so stay tuned. ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Konnichiwa, minna-san! I am going to post a new story today! This is about The Gray Garden school's life, hope you guys enjoy! :)**

 **I will be posting openings, endings and maybe some background music, you can search for the songs to listen while you're reading, so please read and review!**

 _OP-Egoselfish (Miku-tan)_

A mix of peach color and sunny orange is painted in the sky like a beautiful art, several clouds are like cottons absorb the color of the sky and become one of them, making it a pleasant sight to see. A flock of birds fly in the sky to migrate to another destination, winter is coming and it's very cold outside.

A little girl with beautiful silky short black hair with three crystal-like diamonds adorning either side of the hair like a crown, wearing a white dress which is decorated with diamonds at the end of it, is sitting on a swing rocking slightly. She is alone in a playground, a small wind blows past her and her hair waves to and fro along it, making her look ever so beautiful. Her face wears a bored expression, her greyish black eyes looks on the ground then dart to the front where the footsteps approach to her.

A group of boys who are slightly older than the raven-haired little girl stops in front of her, one with an ocean blue hair and eyes grins at her: 'Well well well, what do we have here? A lonely little girl who has no friends to play with her, aww." He makes a mocking apologetic face at her, the gang laughs with him, some of them snickers at her.

The little girl just gives them a bored stare and gets up from the swing. She is about to walk past the boys when the bluenette stops her by grabbing her shoulder. He is annoyed by the response that is given by the raven-haired girl: "Hey, hold it! Don't you want to know who I am?"

The girl slightly turns her head to meet his eyes with her stoic stare and ask him blandly: "Hmm? Why should I know you? What would I gain when I know your name? Stop being so melodramatic."

"Now please, would you let go of me, I have no intention to stay with you," said the girl.

She pushes the hand on her shoulder away and steps forward when two boys grab her arms and hold them tightly. Even though she is in pain, she still doesn't want to show the face to entertain the boys, she continues to give them the stare, but a hard one. The blunette then approaches the little girl and holds his head high, he scoffs at her: "Now then, being an asshole are ya? You should be grateful that I approach to you just to befriend you, and this is how you repay me? You got some nerves in there."

After hearing his words, the little girl closes her eye for a second and opens them, she replies icily: "Befriend with me? Why would you make friends by teasing them? That is not the way you try to socialize with people. And no, I don't feel grateful that you just did. Why would you boys befriend with a person like him anyway? A boy with no etiquette like you should know your place, be gone in front of my eyes will you?"

The gang are shocked by the little girl's reply, especially the blunette. He is indeed pissed off upon hearing her words, he grabs a baseball bat from one of his "friends" and says: "You are one of the most arrogant person I have ever seen, as for your punishment, I will have to beat you up."

He raises the baseball bat and just when he was about to hit the raven-haired girl, a ball hits him hard to cause him drop the bat. All of them including the girl turns to the direction where the ball has just hit him. They see a girl with the similar age as the raven-haired little girl which is different from her, she has dark grey hair which are tied into two low ponytails with an ahoge on top of her head. She has a pair of black eyes but her pupils are black. She wears a grey long sleeve blouse with a matching white bubble hem skirt. She actually looks cute on that outfit, except for the fact that she is angry, and she is growling at the boys.

The grey-haired girl shouts: "Hey you cowards! Leave her alone, or I'll beat you up so bad that you have to stay at the hospital for weeks!"

"Oh? And what strength have you got to cause us to end up like that I wonder? You look so fragile and small, take your time to beat me dwarf," the blunette goes to the grey-haired girl as he said, he puts his hand on top of her head, the angered girl throws him over with a blink of an eye. The boy is sent flying over and landed on the ground painfully.

She then turns over to the rest of the group and gives them a death stare: "So…ANYONE STILL WANNA MESS WITH ME?"

The boys are frightened and quickly runs away leaving their leader and the raven-haired girl behind, some of them shouts out "Mommy" while they run.

The grey-haired girl picks the ball up and then asks the raven-haired girl: "Are you okay?"

The girl replies with a genuine smile: "I'm fine," she stands up and cleans her dress, she looks taller than the latter, "Thanks for saving me."

"No problemo," the grey-haired girl gives her a cheeky smile and asks her a question, "Would you…like to play with me?"

The raven-haired girl blinks for a while and clasps her hands behind and answers the shorter girl, smiling: "Yes, I would love to."

The two of them walk side by side, the grey-haired girl introduces herself as they walk: "My name is Alela Grora. You can call me Grora, and you?"

The raven-haired girl replies: "My name is Etihw. Nice to meet you, Grora."

 _ED-Nightcore-Taiyou to Himawari_

 **And that's the first chapter. Thank you so much for reading this, I hope you find it interesting. I will be posting another chapter anytime unless I don't have homework. Anyways, tell me what you feel about this story and feel free to give me some suggestions for the story. I'll try to think how to put them into my story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Konnichiwa, minna-san! This is the second chapter of the story, please enjoy.**

 _OP-Egoselfish (Miku-tan)_

It's sunny bright in the morning, the clouds seem so fluffy when hanging on the blue sky, the warm sunshine shines on Etihw and makes her feel warm. She is carrying a bag and wears a white blouse with a gray skirt. Her black hair has grown long and reaches to her waist, the crystals still adorning to the sides and make her really look like a princess.

She is humming and walking to school at the same time, maybe the birds heard her singing and they fly down towards her. A bird rests on her finger as she puts out a finger in front, Etihw smiles and greets the bird: "Good moring birdie. May you have a nice day."

The bird seems to know Etihw's words and chirps at her before flies out for his journey. A loud and chirpy voice comes from the back and calls out Etihw: "Hey, Etihw! Wait up!"

She turns around and sees a certain grey-haired girl wearing a pink long sleeve dress with white polka dots and round collars carrying a bag running towards her: "Good morning!"

"Good morning Grora. What a nice hair pin you have there," replied Etihw. Grora touches her light gray hair pin which is decorated with six white buttons and thanked her. They then begin to walk to school together. Grora asks Etihw with a toothy grin: "So, how's your first day to school? Are you nervous? Or feeling excited?"

"Hmm, I would rather say expectation is my answer," said Etihw with an understanding smile.

"Geez, you're so serious when it comes to this," Grora pouts and sends her an uninteresting look.

Etihw just laughs at her, "Well, I can choose homeschooling if I wanted to than going to kindergarten and meet some boys who want to pick a fight."

After hearing that sentence, Grora's face flashes thousands of red shades and doesn't want to meet her eyes: "I-I just wanted to teach those dirty boys a lesson for bullying you, t-that's all!"

"You can just call anyone for help," Etihw sideway glances Grora with a genuine smile.

"Well…you would end up pretty bad," Grora continues to pout while her taller friend just laughs. A few seconds of silence later, Grora asks: "So…why would you come to school with me since you can choose not to?"

Etihw stops, so does Grora, and looks at the latter with wide eyes, she is a bit startled by her question. She opens her mouth that she tries to say something, then closes it with her eyes shut and her head yielding. She holds her head high and opens her beautiful greyish black eyes to look at the clouds, then mumbles to herself: "Why…you say."

Grora gives her a questioning look and begins to walk as her friend starts walking, she heard her saying: "Because you're my friend."

Grora's heart feels warm from the inside, she smiles at Etihw and the raven-haired girl returns her a smile. They have arrived at a primary school they attend to study and head to their class.

* * *

"Alright class, settle down, I know you guys are excited to meet each other since it's the first day of school. Now please sit down, it's time for the roll call. When I call your names, please raise your hand. Is that clear?" The teacher asks the students with a pleasant smile.

"Yes, teacher!" After receiving the students' response, the teacher begins the roll call, "First up, Alela Grora."

"Here-!" Grora answers in a chirpy voice and raises her hand.

"Very nice response. Ciel."

"H-Here…" A girl with long blonde hair with a pair of crystal blue eyes answers timidly with a nervous expression. She wears a long sleeve blue and white dress, half of her blonde hair is tied into a pony tail with an accessory that is shaped like a blue crossed flower.

The teacher goes on: "Rigatona…Rigatona…" The said teacher frowns a bit and looks up from the name list, she sets her eyes on a two pigtailed brown hair with a matching pair of green accessories which both have a red stripe on them. The girl has a pair of red eyes and she is wearing a red and white striped T-shirt with a pair green sling pants, she is eating a Baguette happily, seems like she doesn't know the teacher is calling her. The students follows the teacher's direction and also look at the brown-haired girl.

The girl feels some pressure on her that someone's watching and stops eating her bread, she scans around the classroom and realizes that she is being watched. The teacher sighs and scolds her: "Rigatona, I presume you may stop eating in class or else I will have to send you to the principal's office."

The brown-haired girl who is being called Rigatona swallows the remaining bread in her mouth and acts like nothing happen, she answers to the teacher happily: "Sorry teach', I was just hungry, I promise I won't do that again!"

The entire class laughs, except the three girls: Grora just sweatdrops, Ethiw smiles friendly at Rigatona, Ciel just blinks her eyes.

The teacher sighs once more then lets out a few laughs before continuing the roll call: "Right, next, Etihw."

Etihw raises her hand in an elegant way and answers in an elegant tone: "Present."

Grora heard somebody whispers in the back: "So her name is Etihw, huh. She's so pretty."

"Yeah, she's like a princess. Look at the way she raises her hand!"

"I think she's like a goddess. The way she speaks sound so wise. I wish I could be friends with her faster than anybody."

"No way! I'll go first."

"No, I suggested it, so I go first."

"Would you guys keep your mouths SHUT?!" Grora turns around and hisses through her teeth at the people who were talking in the back.

"Sorry..."The students quickly apologize and send her an apologetic look.

* * *

The teacher finishes the roll call in no time with the class' co-operation, she clasps her hands together and announces: "Alright, that's all for that. I hope you make friends quickly and may we have a fun year together like a family. I want all of you to behave nice and listen to the teacher's advice, do you think you can do it?"

"YES, TEACHER!" The students answer actively. She too feels happy to receive their enthusiasm response, "Right. Let's take out your English textbook and turn to page 12…"

* * *

" _DING, DONG, DANG, DONG~~~~"_

The bell rings and the teacher stops teaching: "Okay class, I want all of you to hand in your homework by tomorrow. Those who didn't hand in their work shall be punished, is that clear?"

"YES!"

"Good. Class dismissed," The teacher walks out of the classroom and the class begins to rustle and bustle, most of them are trying to get to know each other better.

Grora stands up and walks to Etihw who is tidying her books on her desk: "Hey Etihw, wanna go out and explore the school with me? Since you're new in this neighbourhood."

Etihw looks up from her books and smiles at Grora: "Alright, please lead the way."

"Geez, you don't have to talk so formally to me, Etihw. It makes me like some kind of a maid or something," Grora frowns an eye brow and pouts at her. Etihw laughs lightly: "Sorry, I didn't mean that." She gets up from her seat and walks out of the classroom with the shorter girl.

"Well, I'm not blaming you, you have the way you act like, it must be your parents to train you like a lady," Grora puts her hands at the back of her head and eyes her with an opened eye.

"No, this is the way I act since I was born," Etihw replies.

"Hey! You guys wait up!"

"Rigatona! Please, s-slow down! I can't keep up!" The two girls stop and turns around to see two girls are running towards them, they are Rigatona and Ciel.

Rigatona is hand in hand with Ciel who is trying to keep up with the brown-haired girl. They stop in front of them and regain their breaths. Rigatona is the first to speak: "Hi there! I'm Rigatona, what're your names?"

Etihw and Grora exchange glances and Etihw introduces herself: "My name is Etihw, this is Alela Grora," She gestures herself then to Grora with her hand in a mannered way, "You're the girl who ate a Baguette at class. Nice to meet you."

Rigatona blushes and scratches her head replies: "Nice to meet you guys. This girl here with me is Ciel."

Ciel who is still huffing and puffing tries to balance her respiration and waves at them: "Hello. Nice to meet you," She bows at Etihw and Grora slightly.

Grora says: "Nice to meet you Ciel, Rigatona. Would you guys like to come with us, you know, explore the school?"

Rigatona replies: "That sound fun! It's just like treasure hunting! Come on Ciel!"

"O-Okay, be careful not to go too fast," Ciel says in a worried expression. The brown-haired girl gives her a grin and replies: "Don't worry. This time I'll go with you, Grora and Etihw."

As they are walking side by side, Grora asks: "So…how did you guys meet?"

"Ciel and I live in the same neighbourhood, we get to see each other every day and our parents always visit each other so we are like good friends till now. What about you guys?"

Grora takes a sneak glance over her shoulder at Etihw and answers: "Well…let's just say Etihw has quite a rough time back then, she is always the target to be bullied with her loneliness and a somewhat proud attitude, I saved her from a group of bullies once and we knew each other till now."

Etihw lets out a small laugh and interrupts: "They are just some boys who have no right to be in the same place as I am to talk to me in a rude manner."

"Yeah, figures…" Grora stares in front with a blank expression.

"You two seem to get along well though," Ciel gives Etihw and Grora a small smile. They walk on a corridor, on their left is a garden with a line of Sakura trees. The petals are falling gracefully as the wind blows. Beside the garden is a clear pond that has small fish inside swimming.

Etihw suggests: "The Sakura Garden looks like a nice place to have lunch. Will you guys want to join me every day for lunch at there?"

All of them nod in agreement. Ciel then grabs onto Rigatona's hand and asks: "Can we rest for a while? I can't walk any longer."

"Whoa, Ciel, are you okay?" Rigatona asks her worriedly.

"What's wrong with her?" Grora begins to worry about her new friend's health statement.

"Do you want us to carry you to the infirmary room, Ciel? You look so pale," Etihw puts her hand on her forehead to check the body temperature.

Ciel waves her other hand in a "no" signal, she swallows hard and answers: "I'm…fine, I just-need a little rest…that's all. Could you please go to a Sakura tree with me, Rigatona?"

Rigatona immediately carries her gently with both of her arms with Grora and Etihw follow behind, until she sets Ciel down to rest under a Sakura tree. Ciel breathes in and out slowly, Grora searches the place around to find something. Her eyes sparkle when she found something, she quickly runs toward the destination. The three girls exchange a curious look to each other.

Soon, their grey-haired friend returns with a bottle of water in her hand and a wet handkerchief. She hands the bottle to Ciel and puts the wet handkerchief on her forehead. Ciel receives the bottle of water and says: "Thank you, Grora."

Ciel takes a small sip one at a time, her face returns to a blemish pink. Etihw asks: "Are you feeling better now?"

"Y-Yes…"Ciel puts a hand on her chest and smiles genuinely at the three girls: "Thank you guys. And I'm sorry for causing trouble." She looks down apologetically.

"No, it's no big deal. I'm glad that you're alright, Ciel" Grora smiles and scratches her cheek with a finger to hide her embarrassment.

"I agreed with Grora. Thank goodness you are okay. It's something wrong with her health, Rigatona?" Etihw turns to the brunette who is soothing Ciel's back.

Rigatona frowns a little while starring at the ground, she sighs and kneels down beside her childhood friend and says: "Ciel has a bad health when she was young. She can't do any sports, include running. Even when she walks, she is allowed to walk for a few minutes. She may not have a heart disease or asthma, but she still can't go out to play with other kids because of her health."

Grora and Etihw are a bit surprised upon hearing Rigatona's explanation. Grora asks her with a bit of anger: "Why don't you tell us in the first place?"

Rigatona looks at the other side of her, not facing the three of them, stutters: "Umm…well…it seems that I got too excited, I forgot to tell you guys, heheh…"

Etihw just sighs, Ciel sweatdrops with a blunt expression while Grora face palms: "Unbelievable."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I promise I will be more careful in the future," Rigatona raises her hands up like a thief surrenders for committing in a crime.

Etihw is speechless for a second, then says: "So much to promise in the future, I guess, don't you think?"

"You said it sister," agreed Grora and Ciel nods. Rigatona lets out a "Hey" and they all burst into laughters. By the time they chit-chat and walk back to class, the bell rings on the right time. They are preparing for a new lesson.

* * *

 _"RING~~~~~~~~!"_

School is over and the students bid their teacher and each other a goodbye and go home. Some of them walk home with their friends while others go home with their parents or guardians.

The four girls wait for each other and walk side by side to go home together. They talk a lot on the way home about their families, hobbies, likes and dislikes and so on. Rigatona is still eating the half-eaten Baguette, Grora notices it and begins to walk backwards-her facing Rigatona while her legs just follow their direction-and says something about her eating habit.

Ciel smiles at them and Etihw just smirks while side glancing her two friends arguing each other about food. The sun begins to set and colored the sky peach with a glimpse of purple and orange. Their shadows become longer and their friendship seems to grow closer.

 _ED-Taiyou to Himawari_

 **And there it is. I hope you guys enjoy. Please read and review. :)**


	3. I have an announcement

Hello there my fellow readers. I have a serious and big announcement for you all.

I'm...not going to post any chapter anymore. Don't get wrong, I'm not quitting. (lol XD)

I just need to study for my exam for the next two weeks, so I won't be able to write any stories because of that. I won't post any chapters until the 30th October.

I will post the story on 1st or 2nd November. Stay tuned for more!

And if I give you all any inconvenience, I apologize to you.


	4. Chapter 4

**Konnichiwa, minna-san! I'm sorry for not posting for so long , I promised that I will post the new chapter at the 2** **nd** **or 3** **rd** **of November but I didn't do it it's because my exam has been delayed due to the haze problem. It's very heavy and the school has been forced to close for three days. I was having my exam that time, so I apologize if I have given you some inconvenience. This is the third chapter of the story, I hope you guys enjoy.** **Prepare to be ASTONISHED! (Just kidding, please proceed. :P)**

 _OP-Egoselfish (Miku-tan)_

Several years have gone by, the four girls too have slowly grown mature and pretty. At the end of the school year, Ciel and Rigatona promised to celebrate Christmas together. They agreed to buy a mystery gift to the other two before they depart.

The weather is cold and breezy but it's still nice because the view is still worth to sightsee. It is snowing, a few passengers pass by with massive shopping bags to prepare Christmas. Winter is Ciel's favorite season, she always thinks that the winter soothes her heart whenever she goes out of the house.

She wears a dark violet cape with a matching long dark blue dress, a pair of Timberland boots and a pair of black gloves. Her neck is curled around with a Tiffany blue scarf, if anyone has to describe her, it will be the word glamorous. She looks her surroundings happily, her heart is filled with calmness and tenderness when she enjoys the snow falling from the sky.

Ciel holds out her hand, a snowflake lands in her palm. Look closely, the snowflake's shape is crystal-like and very unique. She lets out a smile and breathes out cold air. After enjoying the snow falling for a while, she starts walking to the place where she and Rigatona agreed to meeat at-the playground where they used to play when they're young.

Upon reaching the destination, Ciel receives a phone call from her childhood friend, Rigatona. She says: "Hi Rigatona. Have you arrived?"

"Not yet. I still have to go a long way from the subway station to there," Rigatona's voice appeared from the other side of the phone. Ciel seems surprised when she receives her best friend's answer, "What? You're in the subway station? Why do you go there? Didn't we agree to gather at the playground?"

"Yeah, but first I need to go there and get my family, they are going to celebrate Christmas with me this year. Sorry that I didn't inform you earlier."

"That's okay, I understand that. It's nice to hear that you and your family have reunited. I was a bit worried when you said that your parents need to work at Osaka and they had to take away your sister with them 5 years ago. You seemed a bit emotionless after they had left," Ciel's voice saddened when she remembered that she and Rigatona sends off her best friend's family together. It was bitter to say goodbye to the people she have known who cared for her for so long, Rigatona is in her usual self but Ciel can feel that there is a hint of sadness in her eyes. From that day on, Ciel always stay by her side everyday and everytime.

Rigatona on the other part of the phone chuckles slightly and says: "I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me. I should be the one worrying about you, the weather is cold out there and I'm afraid that you might faint or suddenly have a heartache."

"Don't worry, I'm strong, I can support and take care of myself. Either way, thanks for your caring," Ciel's heart feels warm and lets out a faint smile. After a few moments of silence, Ciel begins to talk: "You know, you can always count on me Rigatona. I'll be there for you, no matter what. Etihw and Grora will help you too. Even though you're strong, I can sense that you are lonely at times. You need someone to talk to you. Please don't hide your feelings, it will worsen you and make us worry. You can always come over to my place anytime if you want to. So, I wish you can rely on me more."

Another moment of silence, then Rigatona speaks: "Thanks Ciel, I will. You're so sweet. I'm so grateful and lucky that I have a best friend just like you. I'll thank Santa for giving me such a great gift afterwards."

Ciel laughs at the last sentence and replies: "Christmas is quite a few hours away, you can thank him later. Well, I have arrived at the playground. Hope to see you soon."

"Ciel, wait!" Rigatona shouts to prevent Ciel from hanging up the phone, it leaves Ciel a question mark on top of her head. Then, Rigatona says: "Look behind you."

"Huh?" Ciel frowns a bit and does as Rigatona have told.

"YAHOOOOOOO!" A large object tackles Ciel to the ground, she doesn't even have the time to react what or who is tackling her. The "object" starts to tickle her and makes Ciel laugh.

After a few more tickling, Ciel calls to stop the "object" with teary eyes while laughing: "S-Stop…haha…quit it! Okay…heeheehee…I-I give up, I surrender…ahahaha!"

And the "object" stops tickling Ciel, looks like her begging worked. Ciel looks up and her mouth drops. The one who was tackling and tickling is Rigatona.

Rigatona wears a green capelet coat with a scarf curled around her neck, a pair of black stockings and high boots. She grins at Ciel and stands up, she holds out her hand to pull her up and Ciel accepts it. Ciel brushes off the snow on her and asks: "I thought you were meeting your family?"

"Well, that was yesterday's. They're at home right now, and I want to surprise you," Rigatona puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head looking at her.

Ciel remembers the words that she has said to Rigatona in the phone and blushes madly, she shouts at her in embarrassment: "Ri-Rigatonaaaaaaaaaa!"

"What?" Rigatona lifts up both of her arms like she is carrying two invisible objects and asks back: "Don't you love surprises? I'm sure you're glad to have me here with you right now."

Hearing those words, Ciel facepalms with both hands and there is steam coming from her covered face. She mumbles under her breath: "That's not what I meant."

"Then…what is it?" The brunette friend thinks for a while and quickly figured what Ciel meant. She grins, sneaks behind her and teases: "Aww, don't be so embarrass Ciel. You're very sweet and kind. This is the first time I have ever heard those words from you, it's so-"

"No, stop! It's embarassing~~~~" Ciel covers Rigatona's mouth with both hands to prevent her from talking further. Now that she doesn't have anything to cover her face, Rigatona can see her own best friend's face clearly. It is as red as a tomato.

Rigatona pulls away her hands and continues to tease: "Wow, your face is really red~~~are you really that shy?"

"Sh-Shut up, Rigatona!" Ciel pouts at Rigatona before she walks away. Rigatona follows her behind and still making fun of her by her side.

They walk on a street which has a lot of gift stores and clothes shop. Most of the stores' things have sales because of Christmas. The two friends walk into a shop which is selling a low price of clothes, it's very cheap and pretty for teenage girls to wear.

Ciel's eyes sparkles when she sees the beautiful dresses hanging near the fitting room. They are all vintage dresses, she loves these kinds of clothes because it's elegant. She picks up a skin-color fabric dress with a black ribbon on the chest and goes to a mirror, she puts the dress in front of her and looks at herself. Then, she turns to face Rigatona and asks: "Hey, Ri, how do I look?"

Rigatona's head jerks up when she is looking at some T-shirts, her expression makes Ciel confused. Ciel blinks twice before asking her: "What? Does it look that bad?"

"No no no, it's not that bad, it's just…it makes you look so…I don't know, too mature?" Rigatona goes to Ciel's side and touches her chin with her finger, she takes a closer look to confirm her words.

Ciel looks back to the mirror: "It doesn't seem too fancy, it's for teenagers. Rigatona, you should start choosing dresses too. Not just for occasions, you may need to wear dresses when you have a meeting or a boyfriend or attempt your relatives' wedding-"

"Come on, Ciel. We're merely almost thirteen. These can wait, and I don't like dresses. I feel uncomfortable when wearing them, I feel empty underneath with just my panties on," Rigatona pouts and turns away blushing when she says the last sentence.

"But you're wearing a dress right now," Ciel puts a blank expression on her face.

"Well, this is different. I got to wear safety pants," Ciel sweatdrops when she heard her brunette friend's answer.

Rigatona fake coughs and says: "Let's go to the gift shop and buy something for Grora and Etihw."

Ciel sighs and smiles genuinely: "Alright then, let's go to the gift shop that's just right beside this shop."

They walk into the gift shop that Ciel mentioned, when they push the door open, they are greeted by a shop assistant: "Welcome to The Enchanted Garden. How can I help you?"

"We'll look around first," Ciel nods to the shop assistant to thank for her warm welcome. The shop assistant bows and gestures them to a direction politely: "You may have a look, we are selling some new products. The discount is until today."

The two friends wander around the shop to find the suitable gifts for Etihw and Grora. The shop is decorated with Christmas decorations, they even broadcast Christmas songs to match the atmosphere. There are a lot of gifts neatly arranged on the shelves such as teddy bears, music boxes, keychains, glorious charms and so on.

Rigatona walks to the path where there are music boxes on the middle of a shelf. There are various different kinds of shapes and sizes, like heart-shaped music boxes, music boxes that has drawers, small round music boxes etc. She picks one of them that is colored pink, has a drawer with a picture of a unicorn on the cover and asks Ciel which is trying to look for a present at the teddy bear section: "Hey, Chi, your sister loves music right? Should we buy a music box for her together? You can sing to her with the music box."

Chi is Ciel's nickname, they often call each other nicknames, Ciel calls her Ri sometimes. She goes to Rigatona's side and smiles: "That's a wonderful idea! I think she'll love it. She always seem so fond to you." She opens the cover of the pink music box, there's a ballerina making a post and spins around gracefully when an enchanted-like music starts to play.

The rhythm dies down when Ciel closes the cover. She says happily: "I'm positive that she'll hold it on before she sleeps. We'll buy it. Hmm, how about we will also choose a teddy bear for your sister then, Ri?"

"Sure," they go back to the teddy bear section and choose a teddy bear with a ribbon and is holding a heart-shaped cushion that says "I Love You" on it. Ciel comments: "This one looks cute. Your sister is definitely gonna love it. I really miss her though."

Rigatona pats the blonde's shoulder and says: "You can come over to my house and celebrate Christmas with me. I bet she misses you a lot, she always loves your cooking. Remember that one time you give her your handmade teddy bear on her fifth birthday? She still holds it whenever she goes to sleep, although she has a collection of teddy bears in her room. I still keep them clean and tidy because I know she will come back one day."

Ciel hugs her tightly after her friend says out her thought, Rigatona hugs her back. Ciel assures her after they have parted: "Everything is gonna be alright, Rigatona. Just smile whenever something is in your way."

Rigatona smiles and closes her eyes, and then opens them: "I know, I know."

Before they approach the counter to pay for the gifts, something caught Ciel's crystal blue eyes. She goes to a shelf and admire it. The shop assistant approach Ciel and says: "A wise choice right there, little miss. These are the best sells at almost all over the world, you can give them to your love ones, your friends, family, relatives, anyone. If you buy three, you get to free two of them. It's worth it."

After listening to the shop assistant's explanation, Ciel finally decides: "I'll buy them."

It's already night time after they have bought the Christmas presents, the two friends then buy themselves an ice cream from an ice cream shop. When they are talking on the street, someone bump them. Ciel's ice cream accidentally spills the ice cream on the person's clothes. Rigatona scolds the person: "Hey, watch where you're going!"

The scolded person has a messy blonde hair and a pair of light blue eyes. He has a dark grey scarf which has a number "four" domino piece and wears a long jacket, a matching pair of trousers with a crisp white shirt that has a number "six" domino buttons. He also wears a pair of black shoes.

He apologies in a timid tone: "I-I'm so sorry…I wasn't….looking in my way."

Ciel looks at Rigatona and says: "Rigatona, don't be so rude. You are scaring him." She gasps when she sees a mark on the scolded person's clothes. She immediately takes out a handkerchief and wipes for him and apologies, "I'm sorry I dirtied your clothes."

"N-No, it's fine, it's fine," The messy blonde waves his hands in a "No" signal as to reassure Ciel that he is not mad. After Ciel cleans the mess for him, he thanks her.

Ciel nudges Rigatona's elbow and whispers to her ear: "Go apologies to him."

Rigatona's eyes widen and looks at Ciel and gives her the "How is it my fault" look. Ciel sends back an "I don't care and apologies to him since you scolded him" look.

Rigatona breathes in deeply and sighs loudly before she turns to the messy blonde. The messy blonde flinches and squeals a bit when the brunette glares at him. She apologizes: "I'm sorry for being so rude to you."

"No, it-it's okay, I-I don't mind," the messy blonde flinches even more when Rigatona smacks his shoulders with her hands, she says loudly with a risen eyebrow: "Come on, man. Don't stutter like that. You're a man. You should stand up for yourself, a guy should protect a girl. You'll get bullied if you're like that. Be strong from this instant, don't be such a coward, got it?"

The messy blonde nods repeatedly: "Yes, ma'am." Rigatona lets go of her hands and brushes his shoulders, "Good. What's your name, soldier?"

The messy blonde replies: "My name is Sherbet. Umm, nice to meet you?" He hesitantly holds out a hand out to her.

Rigatona smirks and gladly accepts his request: "Nice to meet you. I'm Rigatona, this beautiful lady here is my childhood friend, Ciel."

"R-Ri," A few blemished pink appear on Ciel's face when she heard her friend introduces her like that. She bows to Sherbet and greets him friendly: "Nice to meet you, Sherbet. You can call me Ciel."

Sherbet smiles awkwardly at Ciel and scratches the back of his head: "It's nice to meet you too, Ciel."

From faraway, certain grey-haired and raven-haired girls are walking towards their direction on the same street. Rigatona calls out: "Hey! Etihw, Grora, over here!"

The two friends from afar heard their friend's call and waves at them. Grora wears a grey dress with six dark grey diamonds with three on each side. There are diamonds on the end of the dress around it with a dark grey ribbon on the neck. She wears a long white crisp collar jacket that is almost reaches to her feet and a pair of white cuffs. There is also three dark grey diamonds on each side of it. She also wears a pair of white stockings with the same design as the jacket.

Etihw on the other side, has grown a beautiful long black hair that almost reaches to her ankles. She wears a milky white coat cape with a poncho hood, underneath is a long white dress with long white sleeves and a matching pair of slightly high heels.

Grora greets first when they approach them: "Fancy meeting you guys here. What are you guys doing? Trying to hit on guys?" She snickers.

"W-What, no way!" Rigatona denies and Ciel only blushes in confusion, "This guy accidentally bumped on us and Ciel accidentally spilled some ice cream on him and I scolded him but Ciel said to me that I shouldn't be mad at him and she helped to wipe the ice cream off and I apologized to him that I shouldn't be so rude to him and he was afraid at me so I told him that he's a guy and he shouldn't be a coward and a guy must protect a girl then he agreed and we introduced each other until you guys got here," Rigatona is sweating and gasping for air after her long explanation.

"Whoa, chill man. You don't have to explain to us, I was just teasing you," Grora pats her brunette friend.

Etihw who is quiet in the conversation finally speaks: "Grora, you shouldn't say like that. It will lead them misunderstood." Grora pouts.

"My name is Etihw, this is Alela Grora," Etihw gestures herself then to Grora.

"Just call me Grora will be fine," Grora grins at him. Etihw asks: "And you are?"

Sherbet snaps out of his thought when he heard Etihw asks him, he is attracted by her gracefulness appearance, he bows with a hand on his chest and answers: "My name is Sherbet. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Etihw."

Everyone's eyes widen and mouths drops when they heard Sherbet's introduction to Etihw. Etihw is just surprised and says nothing but repeat Sherbet's given royal name: "Lady Etihw?"

"Wow, what a scene!" Grora teases.

"This is the first time I've heard a stranger call me like that," says Etihw. She puts a hand on her chest and smiles: "Just call me Etihw is fine. You don't need to be so formal to me. Every friend of my friends is a friend of mine."

Sherbet answers: "I understand, milady."

"She told you not to call her that, you idiot," Rigatona plays one of her pony tails with a hand.

"Sh-Shut up, you old lady!" Sherbet turns to Rigatona and shouts at her.

Again, everyone's shocked, especially Rigatona. Well, more like disbelieve and angry. She asks Sherbet in a monotone with each word one by one: "What. Did. You. Call. Me?"

Sherbet stiffens at her sudden change of tone but he stands up for himself: "I-I said, old lady! You're an old lady!"

Rigatona is annoyed by his words and stomps to him and grabs by his collar. Their distance is so close that they almost kissed. She shouts at him: "You little brat! Is this how you respond to me after I've apologized to you?! I shouldn't have apologized to you, it was a mistake!"

Sherbet too, frustrated at Rigatona that he pushes her away. Rigatona almost falls to the ground. A boy that has a small body like him holds an unbelievable strength. He is indeed mad: "Whatever! It's not like I wanted you to apologize. I don't want your sympathy. You guys are the same! All of you think I'm weak and small, that makes me look like I'm a loser! Sure, I'm scared to meet new people, but that doesn't mean I'm a coward! I have a sister to take care of, if you guys don't mind."

He's trying to walk away from them when Rigatona grabs his arm and pulls him back. She bursts out: "That's it! I can't take this anymore! You, have a difficult life to handle and now you're blaming on us? What an unmanly way to survive, coward! If you hated your life, you should have make a change to it. It is you, who control your own fate! Your sister would be upset if she heard these cruel words coming from her big brother."

"What do you know about my life, huh? When you guys were having a great time at school and where was I? I was doing part-time jobs to earn money so that my sister receives a great education! My parents leaves us to live on our own after their divorce. This is so unfair! Why everyone has such good lives and we don't?! What did we do that we need to suffer like this? WHY?!"

"Guys, please stop fighting!" Ciel stands between the two of them to stop the arguing.

"She started it!" shouts Sherbet at Ciel.

"Hey! Don't you dare yell at my friend like that!" Rigatona dugs her fingers into Sherbet's skin. Sherbet winces at the pain.

"Well, what do we have here?" a man's deep voice comes from behind. All of them turn around and sees a gang of tall men with tattoos and piercings approach them.

The man with the deep voice is smoking, he breathes in the cigarette and then blows out the white smoke at the five teenagers. They cough and try to cover their mouths with their sleeves, Ciel coughs the loudest. She suddenly inhales in agony, she holds her chest with both hands and slowly kneels down.

"Ciel!" Rigatona squats down and pats her back softly, "Are you alright?"

Ciel can't speak to she shakes her head. Her respiration begins to malfunction, she wheezes everytime she inhales air. Rigatona turns to the smoking man and growls under her breath: "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Aww, can't handle it? Such weaklings," the smoking man smirks. He measures the four girls with his eyes, then he makes a disgusting lust licking movement. He says: "What lovely girls right here. Why in the world would such innocent girls wander in the dark and lonely lane?"

They look around their surroundings. The moon is up in the sky shining brightly. It seems to tell them that is almost time for Christmas. The lane is dark and cold that sends shivers down their spines.

Grora eyes them irritately: "What do you want from us?"

The smoking man laughs mockingly, then says: "Easy. You girls stay here and have fun with us, that boy right there. You know that you need to leave if you're smart enough to know what I mean."

Sherbet slowly clenches his fist so hard that blood might come out. Etihw is in her usual bored expression whenever she encounters enemies, she gives them a hard stare, the gang slowly backs of except the smoking man. He saw it and he bends his body slightly so he is in the same height as Etihw. He strikes up a conversation with her with lustful eyes: "You're an interesting one. A pretty girl like you shouldn't have hang out in the night. You're here, in the dark lane in the middle of the night, with us, do you know what that means?"

Etihw, still giving him a silent hard stare, says out a word: "Disgusting."

The smoking man is angered by her respond, grabs her wrist so fast that she doesn't have a chance to fight back. She winces as the strength of the man's hand presses down her muscles, several red finger marks appear on the spot.

"Think you're cool, huh? Let's see if you can handle this!" The man raises his other hand in the air and is about to slap Etihw.

Grora kicks the man's private part hardly with her karate kick: "Leave her alone!" The man's mind goes blank and lets go of Etihw kneels on the floor protecting his private part while flinching. Etihw lifts up one leg and stomp kicks on the poor man's head, a gust of wind can be felt by his gang. The man passes out after the kick.

The other men charges at them, Rigatona's knuckles make a cracking sound, she waits for one of them to approach her and punches him in the jaw. Then she kicks the other's thigh with her shin, the man then faceplants on the floor.

Grora tires of waiting some of them to come over, charges one of them who has an ear piece, she punches him in the stomach, and the ear pieced man groans in pain. He is about to grab her, luckily she dodges it. Then she grabs by his collar and sends him flying and lands on the other side. A mouth pierced man aims for Grora and punches her, she blocks the attack with both of her arms holding like a shield protecting her. She stumbles back a bit to regain her fighting position, then when the opponent in front of her tries to karate kick her, she rolls under the attack swing kicks in his shin. The man falls off and hits his back.

A man with a bat tattoo on his left shoulder hesitantly to attack Etihw, she just gives him a bored stare and slowly approach him. The clacking sound of the heels echoes in the night and it makes the left shoulder tattooed man wants to run away but can't. He lets out a battle cry before charging at Etihw. Etihw's stare turns furious and tightly grabs the charging man's throat by chance in the right moment. She slowly lifts him up in the air, the man is choking and scratches Etihw's hands to gasp for air. Etihw asks in a scary cold tone: "Is there any last words?"

Of course she doesn't receive any respond from him, so she quickly finishes him by throwing him hardly on the ground. She turns her back at him and says coldly: "When lady says no, she _means_ it."

A scream is heard from behind, the three girls turn around and is shocked by the view they are looking at.

A man with spiky green hair is holding a knife pointing at Ciel's neck. Ciel tries to break free but she is scared that the man might do something harm to her. Rigatona is furious from what she sees in front of her and runs for her: "Ciel!"

The green-haired man threatens them: "Don't come near! Or I'll hurt her!" Rigatona stops running and gives him the death stare.

Sherbet, who is standing and looking at the whole scene feels scared. He wants to help but his body has glued to the floor like something invisible holds down his legs to prevent him from moving.

Ciel is literally crying in tears, a string of blood flows down from her neck. She whimpers for help: "Guys, help me! Ri, I'm scared~~~~"

"Ciel, it's okay. We'll figure a way out to save you, don't move an inch," Rigatona calms her down by gesturing her hands up and down in moderately. She then turns her head to Sherbet and yells at him: "Hey, fizzy powder, do something!"

"Fizzy powder?" thought Sherbet.

Sherbet's heart beats faster than ever. He has never encounter a fight like this before. He looks at Rigatona's despaired face, Grora's saddened expression, Etihw's hopeful face, then to Ciel's tearful face. He doesn't know what to do. He feels hopeless, he scolds himself in the heart for not backing them up. If he helped to fight, none of this will happened. If he doesn't start an argument with Rigatona, none of this will start.

"You're all just useless punks, even the God can't save you now! Trying to be a superhero eh? Dream on! All of you are just some cowards! Cowards, I say," the green-haired man laughs maniacally to the sky while holding the knife at Ciel. Ciel whimpers even louder.

At that moment, something in Sherbet's mind snaps. He clenches his fists and stomps to him, when the man's laugh dies down, Sherbet punches him in the jaw as hard as he can. The man drops the knife and faints. Ciel is free from the man's grip, Rigatona catches her and hugs in relieve.

Sherbet quietly states: "I, am not, a coward."

Etihw is impressed by Sherbet's choice, Grora smiles at him for being a hero. Ciel turns to Sherbet and asks: "Umm, Sherbet?"

Sherbet turns a little to look at Ciel with eyes, he sees her smiling sweetly at him and says: "Thanks for saving my life."

He is surprised by her respond, he thinks to say something cool like "Don't mention it" but instead he replies: "You're welcome." He scratches his face with a finger, tweaking to say something. Finally, he apologizes to Rigatona, "I'm sorry for starting the argument and called you an old lady, Rigatona."

Rigatona's eyes widens, she opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. After a while, she stutters out: "I uh, I'm…sorry too, for calling you an idiot and…digging up your past.

A black figure is standing near Rigatona, she looks up. It's Sherbet holding out his hand, he smiles genuinely at her: "Apology accepted. Are we still friends?"

Rigatona smiles widely and takes his hand, Sherbet pulls her up. He does the same to Ciel as well. Ciel gladly accepts it.

Grora then joins in the conversation by changing the topic: "So, how much time do we have till Christmas?"

Etihw checks her wrist watch and answers: "We have five minutes when the clock strikes twelve."

They gasp, then Sherbet urges: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The group quickly runs towards the huge Christmas tree in full speed. After four minutes and a half, they arrived the destination. There is a huge crowd surrounding the big Christmas tree to wait for the countdown and wait for something magical to appear.

Etihw checks her wrist watch again and says: "The countdown is starting."

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" The lights sparkles and the star on top of the tree shines the brightest of them all. The five teenagers enjoy the beautiful scene in front of them.

"Oh! One more thing," Ciel digs her into the shopping bag to search something, the other four friends watch her in doubt and exchange glances.

Ciel takes out five necklaces which each of them is shaped like a cross designed beautifully. There are five different colors of crystals in the middle of the crosses. They are red, yellow, green, blue, and white.

"I bought a gift for you guys. It's very cheap, the shop assistant told me that I'll get two free cross necklaces. I didn't expect to meet Sherbet, so it's an extra. But after all the things happened back there, I want to give this to you, Sherbet, as a token of our friendship. And you guys too," Ciel gives the yellow cross necklace for Sherbet, the red one for Rigatona, Etihw has the white one, Grora has the green cross necklace and the blue one for herself.

Sherbet stares at the gift for a brief moment and smiles. He thanks Ciel for giving him such a significant Christmas present. The three girls also thank Ciel.

Ciel wishes to them: "Merry Christmas, everybody!"

"Merry Christmas!" The five of them giggles when they say it at the same time.

The weather may be cold and freezing, but the meaning of friendship warms their heart and keep the cold away. In the sky, jingling sound appears and a silhouette blocks the moon and says "Ho Ho Ho" in a kind tone. It also echoes to the crowd although everybody can't see or hear him: "Merry Christmas!"

 _Ed-Taiyou To Himawari (Nightcore)_

Wow, this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Anyways, I'm glad that you guys enjoy them. In these two months, I will be very busy writing two stories but it's not for the viewers, it's for a competition. So, I'll be posting this story in random time, do stay tuned for more The Gray Garden: School Edition!


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